Brenntag pulls out of acquiring Cheman from Poland’s Ciech

The somewhat farcical Poland chemicals privatization really is limping along and looks set to grind to a halt altogether. The latest bad news is that German distributor Brenntag has opted not to pursue its interest in acquiring the chemical distributor subsidiary Cheman from Polish chemical group Ciech.

Brenntag’s due diligence must have thrown up some horrors because after competing it, the company said it did not see enough value in the deal.

Ciech is seeking the disposal of its non-core subsidiaries, such as Cheman, in order to pay down its debt and prepare for a possible re-launch of its so far unsuccessful privatization attempts, according to ICIS news.

The Polish company said it remained open to fresh bids for Cheman, which has the capacity to distribute more than 1,000 chemical products, including soda ash and toluene di-isocyanate (TDI).

A quick search on this blog will recount the slow and painful demise of the privatization process.